GVMC added a feather to its cap by organising mega beach clean-up drive in Visakhapatnam this year

Over 22,000 volunteers collected around 76 tonnes of waste across a 28-km coastal stretch from Naval Coastal Battery to Bheemunipatnam on August 26

The year 2022 is a remarkable year for the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC). The civic body has achieved the fourth rank in ‘Swachh Survekshan’ ranking this year, which is its second best, so far. It has also laid a strong foundation to fight against plastic, by imposing a complete ban on single-use plastic. What stands as a major feather in the cap for the civic body is its gaining global attention by participating in the ‘World’s Largest Beach Clean-up’ activity against plastic pollution with over 27,000 volunteers.

It was during the month of February this year, Visakhapatnam had gained attention across the country, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded the citizens, especially school- going children for using cloth bags instead of plastic. He appreciated the GVMC’s initiative – ‘Cloth Bag Challenge’ among the schoolchildren. This led to the idea to bring in ‘Sagara Theera Swachhta’, a beach clean-up campaign. Following its success, Mayor G. Hari Venkata Kumari along with former GVMC commissioner G. Lakshmisha had announced the ban on single-use plastic from June 5, on the occasion of World Environment Day.

August was a significant month for GVMC, as two important events – ‘Eco-Mela’ and the ‘Largest Beach Clean-up’ programmes were organised. Around 76 tonnes of municipal solid waste (MSW) was removed by over 22,000 volunteers across a 28-km coastal stretch from Naval Coastal Battery (NCB) to Bheemunipatnam in the programme organised by the State Government in association with the US-based ‘Parley for the Oceans’.

Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, who attended the programme, had signed a ₹16,000 crore worth MoU with ‘Parleys for the Ocean’. The US-based organisation will be setting up “Parley Super Hub”, preferably in Visakhapatnam, where recycling and upcycling of plastic wastes would be done. This apart, a “Parley Future Institute”, a cutting-edge research centre for future new materials, will also be set up. The projects are expected to generate employment to about 20,000 people.

After taking over as the GVMC Commissioner in October this year, P. Raja Babu has included proposal relating to work on arresting the drainwater entering the sea. The proposal was passed in the GVMC council.

Mr. Raja Babu said that to ensure proper implementation of the plastic ban, the corporation has organised meetings with the manufacturers of alternative materials and asked them to scale up the production of alternative products. He said that there was a plan to scale up the production of alternative eco-friendly bags by three times for successful implementation of the plastic ban

He said that sanitation was taken up as a priority and steps such as monitoring the movement of garbage trucks by fixing GPS, constituting a special cell with 24 X 7 staff to monitor the situation, and deploying additional staff were implemented. He said that drinking water issues were being resolved using technology. Special focus was also being laid on underground drainage issues and engineering works, including roads.